I’ve wanted to get something off of my chest for a while. I hate being the sick girl. I hate people thinking I feel sorry for myself and whining. Or other people feeling sorry for me. But as someone recently told me, if I can educate even one person about how I and many, many others suffer then that’s a good thing, right? So it basically took a Brita filtered water bottle to give me the courage to fill you in on what’s been going down…

Today I’m going to share with you that little, embarrassing secret. For the past 13 years I have been living with a disease called Interstitial Cystits. There is no cure and they have no clue how or why the disease occurs.

If you’re wondering just exactly WHAT this nasty business is all about here is my explanation that most seem to understand the best… imagine the worst bladder infection you’ve ever had. During that time it probably hurt to pee and it felt like you had to all of the time. Like constantly. And you had trouble sleeping for constantly getting up and trying to pee several times. Driving somewhere very far was probably very, very off of the agenda because you just couldn’t wait between rest areas.

MY LATEST VIDEOS

MY LATEST VIDEOS

Now, add in a burning constant and occasional shooting pain in your abdomen that can make you double over. Eating or drinking seems impossible. Things everyone else can enjoy make you sick. Anything acidic like many fruits and some vegetables, coffee, tea, soda, lots of candies (especially fruit flavored) will make your symptoms so much worse that you can’t touch them. People with IC can urinate up to 60 times a day. Think about that. Most people go a handful of times all day long. Your life becomes consumed with the pain and the feeling that you constantly have to pee. Flat out it’s miserable.

Everyone who suffers interstitial cystitis (IC) has a different amount of pain, different feelings of urgency or frequency. And lots seem to think it’s something all in our heads in spite of images taken by scopes showing the sores and damage. Someone who suffers IC, as I do, is 3-4 times more likely to commit suicide than the average woman. Though women are the most common sufferers, some men are starting to suffer the disease as well.

Right now I’m on a upswing and it has been so fabulous. My doctor has found the perfect combination of medications and I’ve found how I can change the course of my disease so that I am now able to travel (which is so, so amazing, really!) and live a pretty normal life. I can even indulge in foods on occasion that are “bad bladder” triggers like coffee and oranges!

A photo posted by Dream a Little Bigger (@dreamalittlebiggerblog) on May 30, 2015 at 5:22am PDT

And while I cannot thank my doctor enough I have also found something that has made my life worth living again… ready for it? Water!

I know that it seems absolutely insane but a few years back I decided that I was tired of being dehydrated and if I was going to pee a million times a day anyway I was going to drink water so I actually could. (is that gross, sorry!)

And so I started to drink water. Albeit hesitantly at first I drank maybe 2 glasses of water a day, pacing it throughout the day. And the more water I drank, the more I felt like I needed to. My mouth would feel dry and I suddenly found myself pouring glass after glass. And my life changed for the better and I feel like I’m actually living it!

But here’s the thing… I have to drink GOOD water. After a terrible experience drinking tap water for a few days straight I started drinking only bottled water. And I hated doing it because there is so much waste! All of those tons and tons of plastic bottles I have used througnout the years. Gah! I found that filtered pitchers made such a difference in both my guilt level over my lack of being green and my pocket book. Seriously think about how much bottled water costs in relation to tap water (or in my case well water… even cheaper!)

You can take your filtered water on the go no problem-o but how many bottles do you want to carry? You filter it in the pitcher, add it to your water bottles and then head out packed to the gills. So it was pretty exciting to learn that Brita now makes water bottles that contains a filter within. No more filtering at home and lugging this heavy business around… I can now filter water as I need to, all I need to do is carry my one filtered bottle around. How easy is that?

And since these days I’m a mover and a shaker, a blowin’ and a goin’, this is perfect for me. Now you don’t have to have IC to benefit from these new, nifty bottles… Everyone needs to drink water and plenty of it to be healthy. And if you’re into saving money or the environment or even better both! Head on out to Walmart to grab your own Brita filtered water bottle in the HARDWARE section. There are several styles from sports (I like to squish my bottle even though I’m not terribly sporty :) to hard sided bottles and there are lots of designs. Everyone in the fam can have their very own water bottle so there are no fights!

It may sound simple and it may sound boring, but water has saved me… because of drinking plenty of water, I’m as close to normal as I’ll ever be (body not personality :)

Comments (1)

Mike

June 1, 2015 at 5:09 PM

I’m glad to hear that you have discovered the true greatness of water Allison. Water is wonderful! It does so much for our bodies. It’s a natural lubricant for our joints and it replenishes our bodies when we lose it through sweat, or other forms of body fluid. In fact, a good portion of our bodies is made up of water, like 65%! So it makes sense that we drink as much of it as possible. :)
I can drink both tap water and bottled, as long as it’s cold. I have a hard time consuming it when it’s room temperature, or warmer. I can, but I prefer it cold. So I’m always putting ice cubes in mine so that it’s drinkable for me. :) I admit that in the latter years of my 20s, I started drinking more water than I had when I was younger, not really knowing the importance of such a thing at the time. And while many people I know like to associate my obsession with wanting to be healthy as a form of paranoia (and maybe it is fueled by that somewhat, being the anxious person that I am; fearing of developing the big “D” as I call it,[Diabetes] which runs in my family), in truth, I just want to feel better. I always feel so much better after drinking a glass or two of water, as opposed to a glass of juice and even worse, soda. Even coffee and tea can’t compare with what water has to offer. It’s just so darn good! :)So nope, not boring at all Allison. Water is number one on my list of favorite drinks!
And hey, no matter what you may have going on with you, you’re still awesome! Keep on going! :)

P.S. Thanks for mentioning the Brita water bottle product. I’ve seen a pitcher made by this company before and it seems to hold up well. Having it in water bottle form would be super!

Hi, I'm Allison!

I'm a crafty cat lady with big dreams and an inability to sit still. I make it, I live it, I love it. Here at Dream a Little Bigger you'll find lots of inspiration for crafts, crochet, DIY, food, pet life and all things rainbow. Lots and lots of rainbows.